With Mumme hire, June Jones hopes to ignite SMU's passing game

Hal Mumme spent the past four years at D-II McMurry. (Abilene Reporter-News)

[dropcap]A[/dropcap]fter more than a month of speculation, Hal Mumme is officially part of the SMU staff.

June Jones announced the hiring in a statement Wednesday. Mumme’s official title will be assistant coach and passing game coordinator.

Mumme was offered the offensive coordinator job at James Madison in January, but turned it down. He resigned as head coach at McMurry University on Jan. 25.

At SMU, Jones will remain the primary offensive coordinator and continue to call plays.

Before the 2012 season, Jones hired Jason Phillips, who was co-offensive coordinator with Kliff Kingsbury at Houston, as co-offensive coordinator and receivers coach. He hopes the addition of Mumme to the mix will help bolster the Mustangs’ passing attack.

“He believes the same things I do about offense,” Jones said last month. “I tried to hire him three years ago but it didn’t work out.’’

Bob Palcic, who Jones hired as offensive line coach last season, announced his retirement in February, creating the opening.

The innovator of the “Air Raid” offense, Mumme’s 22-year collegiate head coaching career began at Iowa Wesleyan in 1989, peaked at Kentucky in the mid-1990s and also included stops at Southeastern Louisiana, New Mexico State and Valdosta State.

In 2009, Mumme took over a McMurry program that had lost 13-consecutive games.

Mumme guided the War Hawks through the transition from Division III competition to a Division II Independent, and along the way led the War Hawks to three straight winning seasons.